History Literature / Lensman

* TheSpartanWay: Present, though somewhat downplayed. In ''Galactic Patrol'', it's mentioned that out of an initial selection pool of one million per planet per year, only about one hundred are deemed worthy of receiving a Lens. Given that a typical Lensman is among the most physically, mentally, and morally tough people in the galaxy, it's to be expected that the selection process must be quite demanding.

* HeroesWantRedheads: The non-Kinnison line of the Arisians' human breeding project was marked by "red-bronze-auburn" hair. Its apex is [[FieryRedhead Clarissa MacDougal]], Kimball Kinnison's LoveInterest. The science-fiction tradition of redheaded heroines may trace back to Heinlein, or it may trace back to Smith.

--->'''Mentor''': "Inflated -- overwhelmingly by your warped and perverted ideas, by your momentary success in dominating your handful of minions, tied to you by bonds of greed, of passion, and of crime, you come here to wrest from us the secret of the Lens, from us, a race as much abler than yours as we are older -- a ratio of millions to one.
---> "You consider yourself cold, hard, ruthless. Compared to me, you are weak, soft, tender, as helpless as a newborn child. That you may learn and appreciate that fact is one reason why you are living at this present moment. [[MindRape Your lesson will now begin]]."
** Later, one of the lesser Guardians does the same to a couple of trespassing Eich leaders.

* SubspaceAnsible: The Lens grants this functionality. If they're advanced enough, Lensmen in different galaxies can communicate with each other with no more difficulty or inconvenience than an online chat room.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: The Arisians and Eddorians]], and even more so, [[spoiler: Kimball Kinnison's children]].

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Nearly all of Boskone is so evil that virtually no prisoners are ever taken. On ''both'' sides of the war. Several entire Boskonian homeworlds (all of them effectively planet-sized fortresses) are destroyed with no survivors over the course of the series, and no one in Civilization ever thinks twice about it.
** On at least one occasion, Kinnison notes that the previous life on that planet--which had included a flourishing civilization--had been exterminated to make way for the base; this is hinted at as being standard Boskonian technique, so there may not actually be all that many innocent victims...

* GladiatorRevolt: In ''Triplanetary'', a small group tries to overthrown Emperor Nero (who is really [[spoiler:Gharlane of Eddore]].)

** In the climactic battle of the last book, anti-matter projectiles are used, and Smith very explicitly states that when an electron and positron collide, they annihilate, giving to two photons of ''very'' hard radiation. The really ''big'' anti-matter projectiles can fill volumes with diametres best expressed in light-minutes with lethal levels of ionizing radiation.

* UnscrupulousHero: Nadreck of Palain. All Gray Lensmen are expected to be somewhat [[DirtyBusiness pragmatic and utilitarian]]. But Nadreck takes it up to eleven, in part because Palainian culture [[BlueAndOrangeMorality considers deceit to be a virtue]].

* WouldntHitAGirl: Kinnison can mow down ''male'' thugs left and right without batting a lash, but he would never harm a woman if he could help it... which causes him no small headache when he is forced to deal with the genocidally misandric matriarchs of Lyrane II.

* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: Except for the two prequels that he is not in, all of the novels end with Kim thinking that [[SortingAlgorithmOfEvil THIS time he's finally obliterated Boskone's leadership for sure...]] Although in ''Children...'' he begins to think that "there IS no top."
* YouHaveFailedMe: Helmuth loves this trope, although he's not above sparing underlings who defy him (Gildersleeve's crew).

* ThePsychoRangers: By ''Children of the Lens'', the Eddorians have seemingly come up with a way to create Lenses of their own and begin fielding "Black Lensmen" in an attempt to counter Civilization's finest. The results are rather disappointing.

* WorthyOpponent: Kinnison and Helmuth ''deeply'' respect each other's capabilities, which is part of why they each try so hard to kill each other. Two books later, Helmuth is still Kinnison's gold standard for a careful and skilled opponent, to the point where the latter expresses honest dismay when he catches Boskone's minions making mistakes that would never have happened on Helmuth's watch.

* AncientConspiracy: The Eddorian master plan to dominate all life in the Universe is older than our own solar system.

* AnimatedAdaptation: Obscure anime adaptation, ''Lensman Galactic Patrol''.
* AnnoyingPatient: The first time Kinnison ends up in Prime Base's hospital, he's one of these, constantly demanding non-hospital food and to be allowed more physical activity than he's capable of doing. Justified by Kinnison's frustration level -- he knows perfectly well that he was injured by being an idiot. When he's injured more severely in a later novel, but without the "I had the IdiotBall" element, he's more reasonable.

** At that, very few of these checks are ever cashed by the Patrol - collectors make them good. The Red Lensman's first check, in a $1000 frame, became a permanent advertisement for the establishment that sold her her wedding gown.

* BenevolentConspiracy: The Arisians. Also, Virgil Samms, the first leader of the Galactic Patrol, essentially heads a smaller one in ''First Lensman'', aimed at exposing and deposing America's corrupt political leaders, who are basically in the pay of Boskonia.

* BigBad: Every layer of Boskone had these, up to and including the All-Highest of Eddore itself... but Helmuth, speaker for Boskone, is the most human-like and relatable.

* BoardingParty: Many, many times. Justified in that many of the villains are space pirates by nature, and interested in loot as much as interruption of trade. On the other side of the coin, Kinnison and his allies sometimes need intelligence and/or technology from their enemies, and that often means ''not'' blasting every Boskonian starship to sightless atoms.

* FamousForBeingFirst: Title dropped in ''First Lensman'', where Virgil Samms is the first of the Lensmen and the founder of the Galactic Patrol. Later in the series, Kimball Kinnison becomes the first Second Stage Lensman (being the first to return to Arisia for advanced training), and Clarissa MacDougall becomes the first female Lensman.

* InvincibleHero: The main characters may appear as this to some readers since they tend to be good at nearly everything in the story.
* JackOfAllStats: Of the five Children of the Lens, Christopher. More generally, humans compared to other races of the Galaxy.

* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: With their telepathic powers (and incorruptibility), the Lensmen generally don't bother with trials or due process. That said, quite a few Boskonians Kim Kinnison encounters not only keep their lives but get help to rebuild them.

* MakeSureHesDead: One of the first signs that Helmuth is not your run-of-the-mill pulp villain is the fact that he refuses to take Kinnison's [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat apparent death]] at face value and ''explicitly'' commands his underlings to look for the body to verify.

** Used heavily by the villains. Also [[WhatTheHellHero occasionally by the heroes]], [[IDidWhatIHadToDo though mainly on villains who have already used it]]. Particularly [[MagnificentBastard Nadreck of Palain]], although his entire race's moral philosophy differs radically from that of humans.
** Kim Kinnison pulls a neat trick when rehabilitating the drug-blasted mind of a young woman who had been hypnotised into being an enemy agent. He leaves something in her head as protection for her, telling his colleagues afterwards that the next person who tries to hypnotize her will be lucky if he escapes with his life.

* MindVirus: By the end of the series, Boskonia's subliminal propaganda is sufficiently advanced that mere exposure to it ''in writing'' is sufficient to drive whole populations insane and occasion mass disturbances and breakdowns in public order.

** The Arisians' "Visualization of the Cosmic All", which effectively gives them precognition from [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens sufficiently]] analyzing a person or object.

* BastardUnderstudy: Among Boskone (and their controllers, e.g. the Eddorians) it is regarded as quite acceptable, [[ArsonMurderAndAdmiration even praiseworthy]], for [[TheStarscream an underling to scheme]] to [[YouKillItYouBoughtIt supplant their superior]] – the idea being that if he's successful the superior is no longer fit (e.g. not cunning and ruthless enough) to hold their position anyway.
%%* BatmanGambit

* BigBad: Helmuth, the leader of the Boskone.

* BizarreAlienBiology: The Palainians' metabolism has to extend into the fourth dimension in order to function in their native environment (Pluto is as far inside Earth's solar system as they feel comfortable living), and there are other races that take this to even greater extremes.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: A possible alternate interpretation. Civilization is unquestionably good, but equally unquestionably [[GoodIsNotSoft not always nice]]. While they try to avoid unnecessary damage and loss of life when it's reasonably practical, they also are not blind to the logic of [[GoodIsNotDumb military necessity]] -- And if that means blowing up a few planets along the way when saving the Universe, well, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it had to be done]]. They also employ some [[AntiHero efficient but ruthless]] people in their ranks; for example, [[MagnificentBastard Nadreck of Palain]]. By contrast, while Boskonia realistically enough employs many PunchClockVillains and even [[ObliviouslyEvil deluded idealists]] who are not evil so much as simply [[MyCountryRightOrWrong patriots]] for their side, their whole system is a vicious totalitarianism designed and ultimately managed by [[EldritchAbomination ancient alien horrors]] for their own sinister ends, and employs systematic brainwashing, torture and war crimes as a matter of course with none of Civilization's qualms.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Recognized among the races of Civilization, to the extent that different races' Lensmen have entirely different codes of honor and conduct. However, BlackAndWhiteMorality still applies between Civilization and Boskone. Nadreck, the Palainian Second-Stage Lensman, is regarded as every bit as much a hero by his race's standards as Kinnison is by human standards. The Blue and Orange part comes in because Palainians consider cowardice and guile to be ''virtues''. Nadrek is so thoroughly ashamed of "botching" his ''single-handed'' elimination of a major Boskonian base so badly that three (out of, at the very least, hundreds) of the Boskonians failed to kill each other/themselves and he ''personally'' had to eliminate them using (shudder) physical conflict that he records the details of this operation only under strong protest, and immediately places the recording under "Lensman's Seal", which effectively means "Ain't nobody seeing this never." Kinnison's reaction is pretty similar to the reader's: "Took out an entire base all by himself, something nobody else could have done, heroically risked his own life in personal combat to finish up the job, and he's embarrassed because he thinks it wasn't elegant enough. Palainians are weird."
* BoardingParty: Many, many times. Justified in that the villains are space pirates by nature, and interested in loot as much as interruption of trade.

* CallToAdventure: Dronvire, the first Rigellian Lensman, especially. He was essentially the only member of his species sufficiently ''motivated'' to take up a Lens. (The Rigellians do have many other virtues by human standards, but are apparently not a very driven, energetic species.)

* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: Virgil Samms feels like this after establishing [[FirstContact maybe second or third contact]] with the Palainians.

* EliteAgentsAboveTheLaw: The Gray Lensmen can go anywhere and do anything they consider necessary for their missions. They can take anything they think they need, with or without giving a reason, although they'll usually give a chit in return that the Patrol will honor. They can't be given orders, only requests and suggestions, as they are officially considered their own best judge of how they can best contribute to the defense of Civilization and the defeat of Boskone.

* EvilOnlyHasToWinOnce: Averted. The Arisians point out to Helmuth that there is absolutely no way to defeat them, and that if humanity proves incapable of using the Lens to defeat Boskone, then they'll just let him conquer and corrupt this iteration of Civilization while they wait for another one. Indeed, ''Triplanetary'' reveals how the Eddorians have managed to ruin Earth's civilization more than once in the past (including TWO nuclear wars), only for humanity to keep evolving anyway.

* WorthyOpponent: Kinnison and Helmuth ''deeply'' respect each other's capabilities, which is part of why they each try so hard to kill each other. Two books later, Helmuth is still Kinnison's gold standard for a careful and skilled opponent.

* TheFederation: A multi-species multi-planet civilization is common these days in science fiction, written and visual (see ''StarWars'', ''Franchise/StarTrek'', Brin's ''Uplift'' Universe, et cetera) but it had a [[UrExample definite start]], and it was here. Ironically enough, unlike most modern portrayals where the bad guys tend to be a [[PlanetOfHats single species]], both the heroes and the villains were multi-species and multi-planet (the heroes unusually so for the time period and possibly still to this day).

* UsefulNotes/TypesOfNavalShips: Played with. Speeders are smallest (room for one or two people) and fastest. Covettes, frigates, and destroyers aren't used at all. Cruisers are generally designed for specialized tasks, such as prevent hostile ships from going "free", scouting, or launching negabombs. Battlecruisers are used for commerce raiding (by the Boskonians), or for fighting commerce raiders (by the Patrol). Battleships and super-dreadnoughts are front-lime combat units although we see far more of the latter then former. Finally, the slow maulers and super-maulers were designed for planetary bombardment, although thanks to the strength of theater shields they proved more successful in ship to ship combat.

--->"And from the mouth of that gargantuan cone [of battle] there spewed forth a miles-thick column of energy so raw, so stark, so incomprehensibly violent that it had to be seen to be even dimply appreciated. It simply cannot be described." (... And he was only up to the second book in the series by this point!)

** At that, very few of these checks are ever cased by the Patrol - collectors make them good. The Red Lensman's first check, in a $1000 frame, became a permanent advertisement for the establishment that sold her her wedding gown.

* SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Boskone, played to the hilt.

* ShowDontTell: Smith's character descriptions tend to be "This is what you should think about this character."

* BlackAndGrayMorality: A possible alternate interpretation. Civilization is unquestionably good, but equally unquestionably [[GoodIsNotSoft not always nice]]. While they try to avoid unnecessary damage and loss of life when it's reasonably practical, they also are not blind to the logic of [[GoodIsNotDumb military necessity]] -- And if that means blowing up a few planets along the way when saving the Universe, well, [[IDidWhatIHadToDo it had to be done]]. They also employ some [[AntiHero efficient but ruthless]] people in their ranks; for example, [[MagnificentBastard Nadreck of Palain]]. By contrast, while Boskonia realistically enough employs many PunchClockVillains and even [[ObliviouslyEvil deluded idealists]] who are not evil so much as simply [[MyCountryRightOrWrong patriots]] for their side, their whole system is a vicious totalitarianism designed and ultimately managed by [[EldritchAbomination ancient alien horrors]] for their own sinister ends, and employs systematic brainwashing, torture and war crimes as a matter of course.

** Averted at the mundane level. Unlike the Federation of ''Star Trek'', the Galactic Patrol has no hesitation in revealing itself openly to non-spacefaring worlds with a full technology transfer. In Virgil Samms' day, Bennett becomes the Navy Yard of the Patrol; in Kim Kinnison's, it's war-wracked Klovia which is assisted to rebuild in exchange for being the Patrol's foothold in the Second Galaxy. The Patrol's enemies, Boskone, are similarly unhesitant in riddling lower civilizations with massive drug rings or simply conquering them outright.
* AmalgamatedIndividual: Kinnison and Worsel create a fictitious Director of Lensmen, Star A Star, as a cover story. Afterwards, various Boskonian leaders attribute various actions of Kinnison, Nadreck and other Lensmen to this Star A Star.

* BizarreAlienLocomotion: The Zabriskan fontema, which spends its entire life rolling in a straight line across its flat desert homeworld to collect solar energy because it literally cannot do anything else -- it can't turn, and it can't stop itself from trying to roll forward, no matter what gets put in its path. It becomes a contributor to the Lensman 'verse's FutureSlang by being the proverbial stupidest thing in existence that still counts as a living creature.

* EldritchAbomination: Not only are the Eddorians already from a [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace horribly different other continuum]], but they have to disguise their appearances or [[PunyEarthlings mere humans]] will [[BrownNote go insane]] upon seeing them.

* EmpathicWeapon: The Lens functions as a psychic enhancer (for humans, at least), and is attuned to its user in such a way that anyone else who tries to use or handle it when it's ''not'' connected to its rightful user is killed instantly. It also vanishes shortly after the owner's death.

* NotSoDifferent: At the end of ''First Lensman'', the Patrol has the enemy fleet on the ropes and the enemy subfleet commanders are invited to parley rather than be butchered. Samms scans their minds as they come aboard his ship and gets a shock when he finds that one of the enemy commanders is of Lensman grade.

* {{BFG}}: The Standish, the equivalent of a machine gun, and its replacement, the semi-portable.

** Kim Kinnison pulls a neat trick when rehabilitating the drug-blasted mind of a young woman who had been hypnotised into being an enemy agent. He leaves something in her head as protection for her, against the next person who tries that on her.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Played with in ''Masters of the Vortex.''. Medury took great pains to ensure he was doing no harm before he [[spoiler:triggered the first Vortex.]] By the time the Cahuitans realise what [[spoiler:the 'kindling' for their incubators actually was]], they've evolved beyond remorse but they do act immediately to minimise the damage they've caused.

* NoNonsenseNemesis: Since Boskonia cares more about efficiency than [[ForTheEvulz villainy for its own sake]], there are quite a few of these. Helmuth from ''Galactic Patrol'' stands out -- his personal {{catchphrase}}, "Your reports are neither complete nor conclusive," and the fact that he's smart enough to ''never'' assume NoOneCouldSurviveThat (and chews out a group of {{Mooks}} who do) show that he attaches great value on certainty and thoroughness of information. In fact, Boskonia's all-business and self-serving attitudes are one of the biggest things that distinguish it from the much less "professional" and [[CentralTheme more familial]] Patrol.

* OutsideContextProblem: The Nevians in ''Triplanetary'' - when they first show up wreck both the patrol and the pirate fleets. Once the ''Boise'' gets the proper upgrades, however...

* QuittingToGetMarried: Clarissa comments at the end of ''Gray Lensman'' that she's facing a huge amount of demerits for having not one, but ''three'' men in her quarters[[note]]one of them is her love interest Kinnison which under other circumstances might well be considered irregular to say the least, but the other two are ''extremely'' senior officers and all three are [[IncorruptiblePurePureness Lensmen]], so she's just joking[[/note]]. The chief surgeon (one of those men) assures her she won't get in trouble, because her resignation to marry Kinnison will be backdated to before the meeting. (Note that Clarissa hadn't said anything about resigning, everyone[[note]]including Clarissa, to be honest[[/note]] just assumed she would.) Turns into a TenMinuteRetirement when Mentor delivers a psychic DopeSlap to Kinnison at the beginning of ''Second Stage Lensmen'' ... but before she gets to go through with the wedding at the end of that book, she resigns again[[note]]from the Nursing Corps; by that point she's a Lensman herself, and you don't resign from ''that'' job while you're still breathing, or whatever your species' equivalent is[[/note]].

* ARealManIsAKiller: All Tellurian Lensmen are male, because a Lensman must be able to kill without a conscience if the situation calls for it and only men can be natural-born killers like that; women, supposedly, just don't have that kind of sociopathy in them. Virginia Samms is disqualified from being a Lensman for this reason, and she says that there will one day be a woman Lensman, but she'll be an absolute freak of nature. [[spoiler: Actually, Virginia's being fed a crock of bullshit. The Arisians don't want women in the Lensman corps because it might screw up their breeding program.]]

* SecretWeapon: Primary beams, kept secret from the Boskonians throughout most of ''Gray Lensman.'' The Galactic Partrol only used them when they knew none of its victims could escape to tell the tale.

* StarfishAliens: The Nevians, Palainians and Rigellians, among many others. Thoroughly inhuman and occasionally monstrous aliens who (at least insofar as the named examples are concerned) are either humanity's allies from the start or become so.

* TakingYouWithMe: When fighting a losing battle, Boskonian gun crews purposely overload their weapons. This burns out the gun and kills the gun crews, but the resulting high powered beam is enough to break through the shields of the Patrol's defensive cruisers. [[NiceJobFixingItVillain It backfires when Patrol scientists figure out a way to safely use method]], creating the devastating primary beam.

* TractorBeam: They appear here first, as an offshoot of research into anti-inertia forcefields. Interestingly, against negamatter bodies, they behave in the exact opposite fashion, repelling them instead of capturing them.

** Kinnison is deeply disturbed when the bad guys capture and murder much of his crew in a mission gone wrong. His boss Haynes tries to tell him these things happen, and says any man in the Patrol would still give his eyeteeth to ride out with Kinnison, but it doesn't take. [[spoiler:Kinnison even tries to "fix" the qualifications of a volunteer SuicideMission so he's the one who goes, but his friends beat him to the punch and prove they're better qualified. They also remind him his life is worth a lot more than just about anyone else's. This is probably why Kinnison likes working alone whenever he can.]]

* AncientTradition: The Arisians are committed to guarding every intelligent species' right to determine its own way of life, and are just as old and powerful as even the Eddorians.

* ''Literature/TheMagicians'':

In 1963 the New England Science Fiction Association named their annual SF convention "Boskone" (a play on "'''Bos'''ton '''Con'''vention") in Smith's honor. The convention newsletter is named "Helmuth", of course.[[note]]Helmuth is an intermediate [[TheDragon Dragon]] who always begins his messages to his underlings by saying "Helmuth, speaking for Boskone!"[[/note]] After a group of fans got [[PersonaNonGrata in trouble with the Boskone organizers]], they started up an alternative (and, eventually, larger) convention called "Arisia."